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“Once you know what events you’ll have to attend, send me the details and I’ll send you some outfit ideas,” Irinka offered. “Though I’m sure Athan has a stylist on hand.”
“I trust you over anyone Athan employs.”
All her friends were silent for a few minutes. And even though they were all currently in different places, she could almostfeelthem giving each other looks.
“Are you sure you want to go through with this, Lynna? Because we can come rescue you anytime. You don’t have to fight this battle on your own.”
She thought of Constantine smiling while Athan had him pinned against that wall. She wasn’talone, per se, even if she didn’t trust Athan fully. “No, I’m good.”
She wanted to have a hand in making Constantine pay.
So she’d have one, even if it meant balls and pictures and stories. She’d do whatever it took to give Rhys a future.
And ruin Constantine’s.
CHAPTER NINE
Morestoriescameout day after day. And each one enraged Athan a little more. Especially since they’d started to focus on Lynna. Not just the pregnancy rumors, but a gross exaggeration of the loan Athan had paid off for her and what that transaction mightmeanabout their relationship.
Yes, Constantine had found his Achilles’ heel, because Athan did not feel quite so calculated and careful when the stories made Lynna out to look bad.
He’d phoned Ophelia so many times she’d stopped answering his calls. She’d managed to plant a few stories in the press about Constantine, but none had taken off with the fervor that stories about Lynna did.
Their first public outing would be this weekend, but they had to make it through tonight’s private dinner first.
Henry and Bethan Davies were their guests. They were the first dinner he’d scheduled because they were the easiest targets. Henry had been Aled’s childhood friend who Aled had brought into the fold of AC International before Athan had been born.
Henry’s loyalty would lie with Lynna over Constantine, Athan was certain. Even with Constantine’s threats and Athan as a go-between.
Lynna had suggested that instead of going out, Athan host the Davies in his home and allow her to make the meal.
He’d had reservations about it looking like his wife wasstaff, but in the end, she’d won him over. It would feel like family. Like a home-cooked meal. Appealing to the sentimental, which was the whole point of marrying Aled Carew’s daughter.
Still, he was having a hard time shaking his foul mood when he returned home. Until he hunted Lynna down. She was in the dining room. Everything was set up for a fine dinner, and she was clearly going over the entire tablescape to make sure it was perfect.
She wore black slacks that somehow appeared both elegant and comfortable. She wore a short-sleeved sweater the color of eggplant. Her hair was swept up in a more elaborate twist than he was used to seeing from her. A delicate gold chain hung around her neck, and little diamonds winked at her ears.
He did not know how she could make him feel like he’d been electrocuted in an outfit so simple, so casual. But he wanted to trace the line of that necklace, feel the soft warmth of her skin, more than he wanted to deal with Henry Davies.
“The hors d’oeuvres are ready and set out,” she said, as if ticking points off on some internal list of hers. “Petros will serve the rest of the meal. I added some Welsh touches to the menu. It will offer an easy way to segue into talking about my father that doesn’t feel calculated.”
He thought of what she’d said about being hispartner. He knew she wanted revenge against his father, but he hadn’t expected…this. Her actually workingwithhim. Because all of this was…
“You are brilliant.”
She stopped a little short, straightened her shoulders. “Of course I am.”
She had an unshakable confidence. He’d seen that in her, year in and year out. The way she took his jobs, the way she acted unaffected—for the most part—by who and what he was every time he brought her into his home tobehis staff.
But there was something about the way she reacted when he complimented her that hinted at some tiny…vulnerability, and it made him even more furious that his father had turned her into his preferred tabloid target.
But he had to set aside all those frustrations and put on a smile when the Davieses were announced. He had to play the role of gracious host. It was a role he’d always been good at, but Lynna added a special touch. Where he would have been tempted to play on the memory of her father, she always drew the conversation back away from Aled. So that even the most cynical person could not have accused them of a mercenary dinner in an effort to gain support.
But there was enough of Aled’s ghost haunting the dinner that Henry no doubt felt it. With the right moves, Henry would associate Athan with Aled instead of Constantine, and once he promised to bring Rhys Carew on?
Athan was certain he would have a steady ally in Henry Davies.
When they said their goodbyes, Henry took Lynna’s hand in both of his. He squeezed. “It was so good to see you doing so well, Lynna.” His smile wavered, emotion in his eyes. “I miss your father very much, but you brought a piece of him back to me tonight.”